Evening News Update Monday 29 October

Meteo France have an Orange weather alert in operation for storms and heavy rain in the Var and the Alpes Maritimes until 7.00 this evening.  Strong winds with gusts of up about 95 km per hour are possible in the Alpes Martimes and about 40-60 km per hour in the Var. Damage was caused to property in Tanneron in the Var this morning where a house had its roof torn off by what’s being described as a “mini-tornado” and a car was reportedly moved 300 metres by the storm. An elderly couple were rescued from the roof of their car by pompiers in Roquebrune-sur-Argens this afternoon after they were trapped by rising water.  Meanwhile, Meteo France have issued a Red alert, the highest level of alert, for the island of Corsica for gusts possibly in excess of 130-150 km per hour.  Full details of the weather alerts can be found at www.meteo.fr

The Criminal Court in Nice has found the manager of a dry cleaning shop in the city guilty of the manslaughter of a woman who lived in an apartment above the laundry. An autopsy after the death of Josée-Anne Bernard, who died in December 2009, showed significant traces of an industrial solvent commonly used in the dry cleaning process. The court handed a suspended prison sentence of one year to the manager and also fined the Veritas certification office 100,000 euros. 

A man who was stabbed in Cannes at the weekend has died of his injuries.  The 23 year old was stabbed in the early hours of Sunday morning near Le Palais nightclub. Police are still searching for the attacker.

The French Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet, has been in Nice today to inaugurate the new headquarters of the Administrative Court. Four million euros has been spent on refurbishing the building located on avenue des Fleurs and adapting it for the use of the court. 

Due to work being carried out on the region’s train network there are no trains between Ventimiglia and Menton and between Toulon and Cannes. A normal service will return from 6am on Wednesday. In the meantime a bus service has been put in place for passengers.

The first snow of the season has fallen at Isola 2000.  The resort received a light dusting of snow over the weekend.  Opening is still scheduled for the 1st December.

BUSINESS

IBM has agreed to buy software company Red Hat for $34bn - its biggest acquisition ever. Red Hat specialises in Linux operating systems.

HSBC has reported an increase in profits of 28 per cent for the third quarter profits, driven by a strong showing from its retail and wealth management units. The bank reported profit before tax of $5.9bn for the three months to the end of September.

Italian government bonds have risen after Standard & Poor's made no change to the country's investment rating. However, the credit ratings agency lowered its outlook to negative from stable.

SPORT

Rugby Union… Captain Rory Best and vice-captain Johnny Sexton have been left out of Ireland’s opening autumn Test against Italy in Chicago.  A reduced 26-man squad is leaving for the United States today without several other players including Peter O'Mahony, Rob Kearney and Keith Earls. Ireland take on Argentina, New Zealand and the USA in consecutive weeks following the Italy Test. Also in rugby news, French international Christopher Tolofua has signed for Toulon for a period of three years.  He most recently played for Saracens.

CRICKET… England captain Joe Root says Jos Buttler is likely to be chosen as wicket keeper in the first Test against Sri Lanka next week if Jonny Bairstow is not fit. Bairstow is recovering from an ankle injury picked up while playing football. The first of three Tests starts in Galle next Tuesday.

FOOTBALL.. The wife and son of Leicester City's owner have laid a wreath at the club's stadium this afternoon after yesterday’s helicopter crash. The club's first team and youth squad have also been present at the King Power Stadium this afternoon. A team investigating the crash has reportedly recovered the aircraft's digital flight recorder.